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Now, of course, there have been some black leaders outside the government who have also treated with the PLO. Didn't the Reverend [Joseph] Lowry of the Southern Christian Leadership?
Oh, yes. And Jesse Jackson.
And Jesse Jackson.
Is there an overtone, or even worse, of anti-Semitism in this interest in the PLO on the part of some of the black leadership?
My own personal opinion is that that's not the dominant factor. Now I don't know. I never talked with any of them about this, but my personal opinion is that the major concern is some kind of identification with the Palestinians as seemingly oppressed-- as an oppressed group, and that the Palestinians-- whenever I've heard the blacks discuss the Palestinian issue, it is, you know, they are human too and you just can't shoot them as if they had no human rights.
Now some people might interpret that as anti-Semitism. I personally don't interpret it as anti-Semitism. I interpret it as identification with human beings who are seen as being ignored or oppressed or subordinated. And the belief that this is a perspective shared by the Arabs, including Egyptians.
Well, [Hosni] Mubarak has addressed himself to that even
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